I've Only gone and moved to scotland!
As of late Summer, 2021 family Baker has moved to the Central Highlands of Scotland. We surprised ourselves, but after over 30 years (for me) and over a lifetime (for my wife Ceri) of living in Devon on the edge of Dartmoor national park, we felt is was something we needed to do. So we did it! Swapping one National Park for another we now call the Cairngorms home.
It's a magical part of the world that I've got to know pretty well over the years of leading and guiding wildlife watching trips.
From Golden Eagles (I've even got them on my garden list already), Crested Tits, Pine Marten and Red Squirrels to the smaller life forms - the Cairngorms are a UK biodiversity hotspot when it comes to invertebrates - there is plenty to keep me occupied and busy as I explore by foot, wheel and paddle.
There is something wonderfully humbling about the mountains. It's a vast landscape and while it has its issues like all national parks. The sense of space is intoxicating and exciting. There are few places in the UK where you can sit in one spot and for as far as the eye can see is a landscape in recovery. as I mentioned it's not all like this but there is a sense of positivity I've not experienced anywhere else on our islands particularly at this scale!
Big Bird, big thrill, big questions.
You don’t have to actually lay eyes on something to value its presence. This is a lesson I have learnt time and time again and is the reason I enjoy tracking and trailing almost any kind of animal, from the feathers birds leave behind them to the pug marks of a mammal left in soft […]
The Death of Dartmoor or Stolen Freedom?
Inspired by some understandable outrage at one Dartmoor estate banning ‘wild camping’. I thought I might re-issue an article I wrote in response to what I was witnessing on my beloved Moor during and after the lockdown period – this was published in the Spring 2021 edition of ‘Dartmoor magazine’. The Year we found nature? […]
Tree Weasel
It’s not that I’m intolerant of the fluffy things in life, far from it. It’s just that right from the very beginning (and I’m thinking back to my childhood here), mammals have always been the easy sell. Folk immediately ‘get them’. After all, we are one, and in just a few seconds, staring into a […]
Fancy a bugging trip to Greece? June 2024
Now, I can think of nothing better than hanging out with a bunch of like-minded bug enthusiasts, hunting for mantids, butterflies, tortoises and toads, and all with the Mediterranean sun on our backs in an unspoilt flower-rich landscape. So it’s with great excitement that I can share with you that this is exactly what you’re […]
The Flea that’s a Fly
What a way to start the year and my new life in the Cairngorms. I’ve got Red Squirrels regularly visiting the garden, Crested Tit and Crossbill just a five-minute walk away, Pine Marten have been seen in my street and I’ve even had a Golden Eagle fly over the garden. Things are pretty exciting to […]